A giant white giant shark with divers: NPR

Divers off the north coast of Oahu had the pleasure of swimming and frolicking last week with a great white shark, widely regarded as one of the largest in the world, and the exciting encounter between species has been captured video.

Ocean Ramsey, who independently studies sharks and conducts shark-free diving trips off the island of Hawaii, was in the water with his team, watching a group of tiger sharks feeding on a sperm whale decomposing on Tuesday. Suddenly spotted Deep Blue, as the female shark calls 20 feet long.

"I waited quietly, patiently, observing that she was swimming up to the sperm whale's dead carcass and then slowly toward me," Ramsey wrote on Instagram.

As the whale approached, Ramsey stretched out his arm towards the massive shark "to maintain a space so that its circumference could pass."

Finally, Ramsey's gloved hand caressed the shark. "What some people do not realize is that sometimes sharks seek contact," she said.

It would appear that the potentially pregnant giant was particularly playful, according to Ramsey, who noted that the top predator was flanked by two rough-toothed dolphins "dancing around her".

The great whites "are not the ones they are portrayed as stupid monsters," she added in another article.

Ramsey, however, urged the public not to recklessly dive in shark-infested waters of any size. "They are capable predators who need and deserve to be respected," she said in another article posted on Instagram.

Ramsey told Honolulu Star Advertiser that Deep Blue appeared to be pregnant. "She's incredibly wide," Ramsey observed.

Marine biologists have not clearly identified Deep Blue as the star of the videos, but Chris Lowe, director of the Shark Lab at the State University of California at Long Beach, has told NPR that the big white marks match those of the famous Internet creature, which caused a sensation for the first time when it was filmed five years ago.

Also, Lowe said that it made sense that it was Deep Blue because "female sharks usually swim up to the central Pacific, sometimes even up to Hawaii, for two years. before returning to California or Mexico their puppies. "

" Nobody really knows why, "continued Lowe, explaining that Deep Blue had been sighted off California a year ago.

According to monitoring data, female sharks usually return to the west coast – Baja California, Mexico or California – in early spring to give birth.

In any case, Lowe stated that the tagging data indicated that three female sharks had been recorded feasting on the "floating buffet" which is the dead sperm whale carcass near Oahu.

"For a woman who carries six babies – two to ten babies who will be born about four and a half to five feet long, weighing about 20 kilos a piece – it's more than a meal It's like five days of Thanksgiving feasting at once, "he said.

Shark populations around Hawaii have been in decline for years and Ramsey said she hoped that the fact that Deep Blue was in the spotlight would also highlight vital legislation on shark protection.

"There is currently no law protecting sharks against death" except a ban on killing them for their fins, "she wrote in a statement. And even this law has many flaws, "she added. [19659009] The Honolulu Star Advertiser announced that Ramsey was trying to rally support for a measure to ban intentional killing of sharks that could be introduced into the state house later this month.